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EU leaders suspect sabatoge:
An internet cable connecting Finland to Germany and another one between Lithuania and Sweden, both running under the Baltic Sea, were cut within 24 hours of one another. While accidental damage on undersea cables happens, CNN says these are rare events. So, the disruption of two cables around 65 miles apart and happening nearly simultaneously is a sign of sabotage, says German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
"Nobody believes that these cables were accidentally severed," said Pistorius. "We have to know that, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a hybrid action, and we also have to assume that, without knowing by whom yet, that this is sabotage." The Finnish and German foreign ministers have also issued a joint statement, saying, "The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicious of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times." They also add, "Our European security is not only under threat from Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors."
These events came a few months after NATO warned that Russia was developing strategies to disrupt the global internet, with the latter mapping undersea fiber optic cables as future reference. Right before the suspected sabotage occurred, the US government also recently allowed Ukraine to use some long-range US weapons to attack targets in the Kursk region inside Russia, enflaming tensions further and heightening suspicions of Russian involvement.
[...] Despite these attacks, internet disruption remains limited. Telia Lithuania, the company that runs the Lithuania-Sweden cable, says that the damaged cable handled about a third of Lithuania's internet capacity but that traffic has already been restored even though the cable is yet to be repaired. Cinia, the company behind Finland-Germany fiber optic cable, also confirmed that service through that line was down. It also said that its telecommunications network is run through multiple links, thus limiting disruption.
Update 11/20/2024 03:38 PT: The Danish Navy has boarded and detained the Chinese Bulk Carrier Yi Peng 3 in the Danish Straits, near the exit of the Great Belt, according to reports in Eurasia Daily and Defence24. The detention reportedly took place on the evening of November 18. Officials have not verified those reports, however. According to Financial Times sources, Swedish authorities are "carefully studying the Chinese vessel."
Related:
- Opinion: What's Really Up With Data Disconnects in the Deep Blue Sea?
- UK Official Warns of Russian Risk to Undersea Cables
- Could Russian Subs Stop the Internet?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Thursday November 21, @08:01PM (1 child)
I have not seen anything about any boarding the vessel as of yet. It's more or less just being told to stay, under the watchful eye of the Danish navy. The Swedish navy and coastguard has examined both spots and sent reports to the involved parties. It's somewhat suspicious that it's one ship passing both spots at more or less the same time as each of them break.
It doesn't seem to be a very important cable and it has not had any significantly bad effects on traffic. That have already been rerouted. Possibly those routes are significant somehow, to someone -- as in they might not be the usual cables that gets monitored for traffic. Still it says something about how quickly they are responded to and what kind of action is taken. So as a test it makes sense.
It's a Chinese ship with a Russian captain, that seems like somewhat of an odd combination.
Everyone suspected and blamed denies all involvement. Which is very reminiscent of when the Nord Stream pipes just sort of magically blew themselves up ...
(google translate at your own leisure)
https://omni.se/forsta-preliminart-resultat-har-skickats-till-polisen/a/dRrGGB [omni.se]
https://omni.se/kina-nekar-till-kabelsabotage/a/ala37a [omni.se]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Frosty Piss on Thursday November 21, @08:52PM
Perhaps it's simply a "proof of concept" as in "Hey people, we can do this if we want. The Orcs are on shaky ground politically. Regardless of how the Orange Orangutan feels at any particular second, the EU may have different ideas.